CEPI awards $9.7M to Buffalo’s POP Bio to advance trials of rapid-response vaccine platform

POP Biotechnologies has received up to $9.7 million from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to advance an H5N1 avian influenza vaccine candidate and help validate POP’s proprietary rapid-response nanoparticle vaccine platform. The Buffalo, New York-based company, a spinoff from a University at Buffalo incubator, will use the funding to build out its early clinical development and Phase 1 testing while demonstrating the platform’s ability to address future epidemic and pandemic threats. The funding builds on CEPI’s initial $1.5 million investment in 2025 to accelerate vaccine development for emerging infectious diseases.